Government is targeting 80% employment, but only around half of working-age disabled people are in work.
Disabled people still face “hostile environment” at work.
Reasonable adjustment rejections must have written explanations called for in new report, MPs say.
Small businesses need help if Workplace Health Provision is to succeed in making workplaces accessible.
Work and Pensions Committee MPs have called for a two-week legal deadline for employers to respond to requests for reasonable adjustments from disabled workers in a report published today. The report added that rejections should be required to have written explanations.
Although the employment rate for non-disabled people (82.5%) is already above the government’s 80% target for disabled people it is just 52.8%. The overall employment rate for 16–64-year-olds is 75%.
Hostile environment and unanswered requests
In its Disability at Work report, the first of its Employment Support for Disabled People workstream, the cross-party committee concludes that disabled people still face a “hostile environment” in the workplace.
Evidence to the inquiry showed employers often failing to respond to reasonable adjustment requests or are too slow to act. As many as 82% of requests took more than four months to implement, with some taking a year.
Inaccessible workplaces were also making disabled people more reliant on reasonable adjustments in the first place, the report added.
Flexible working arrangements were among the most valued adjustments enabling disabled people to more freely attend disability-related medical appointments and manage fluctuating conditions effectively.
Lack of support and awareness
The report highlights the lack of support and awareness among both disabled people and their employers, particularly small employers.
It calls for an extensive multimedia campaign on disabled people’s rights in the workplace and for there to be a duty for employers to inform workers of their entitlements and support.
The committee supports the proposed Workplace Health Provision in Sir Charlie Mayfield’s Keep Britain Working report but says the scheme should explicitly aim to encourage employers to improve workplace access beyond reasonable adjustments.
The committee heard that small and micro businesses were ‘sceptical’ about the benefits of the Workplace Health Provision and asked for evidence to make the case for it and for guidance on how better to support disabled people in work.
The report raises the concerns of small business organisations about the proposal to spread the burden of funding equally among all employers. Instead of a blanket contribution for all businesses, the report recommends ‘the government explore alternatives’ to mandating contributions from them, “at least until the benefits have been realised”.
The disability employment gap
One in ten (10.1%) disabled people leave work each year compared to one in 20 non-disabled people (4.6%).
Meanwhile, progress on closing the disability employment gap has stalled since the pandemic, and currently stands at 29.5%, with non-disabled people being still 1.56 times more likely to be in work than disabled people.
Work and Pensions Committee Chair Debbie Abrahams said, “A major reason disabled people are much less likely to be in work or stay in work is the lack of accessibility of workplaces; something many of us take for granted.
“Although there is a legal duty to provide reasonable adjustments for disabled workers, in too many cases this isn’t happening, often out of not knowing, but also a lack of understanding of the different adjustments that could be made.
“Employers should be required to inform all new employees of their rights to reasonable adjustments, whether they know they are disabled or not.
“Linked to that, we have also recommended that there is a legal duty to respond to these requests for reasonable adjustments in a reasonable time frame, with explanations for any refusals.
“We have proposed two weeks in line with the Employment Rights Act which requires a response to flexible working requests within the same timeframe. “We believe this will give disabled people confidence that their rights are respected and force proper engagement from reluctant employers.
“Over our inquiry we’ve heard some businesses doing exemplary work for their disabled workers, but too often accessibility is not seen as a priority.
“Small and micro businesses, the backbone of UK employment, need better support even incentives from Government to address accessibility issues to cut through the daily pressures they face.
“This would help break the cycle of sluggish adoption of reasonable adjustments and cut the unacceptable levels of disabled people being pushed out or locked out of work.”
Damien Egan, Labour MP for Bristol North East and member of the Work and Pensions Committee, said:
"With more disabled people trying to get back into work, speeding up employer adjustments, especially where they are minor changes, can only be a good thing for both the disabled person and the employer.”
